credit card

To skim through an article or text or memo…whatever…to refresh your memory before a test or meeting – wonderful!

Skimming through the paper or a blog to get the gist of today’s headlines and goings on in the world at large – fantastic!

Skimming through a recipe to get a general idea of what you need & how to put it together, and then using that information to create your own deliciousness – amazing!!

SKIMMING MY CREDIT CARD WHEN I’M SIMPLY GASSING UP AND MY BABY IS SLEEPING IN THE BACKSEAT…Man, you are a sucky face jerky goober bottom feeder! Boo! I hope someone pours sugar in that lovely tank full of gas you used my card to “buy” steal.

That is all. Crap. No, it’s not.

I think the response that I am called to have is forgiveness. Theft is always wrong but theft to feed your family is less wrong than theft because you’re some punk who just wants to steal because you can. (I’m thinking of St. Augustine and the pear with that.) If I give you the benefit of the doubt, then perhaps you have been unemployed for a very long time, constantly seeking work and unable to find any…maybe… Perhaps, you needed that full tank of gas to get your sick child to the hospital and your friend needed that OTHER full tank of gas to get to their dying mother’s bedside. Yeah, I’ll go with that. I really will be praying for you and for any of your other victims. Thankfully, we have awesome fraud protection and won’t have to pay one penny towards your fill ups or anything else you managed to charge to our accounts. Please, stop it. Stop stealing from people.Really, really, STOP stealing from people! For all you know, you are stealing bread out of a hungry child’s mouth or the last few dollars a poor widow has to get her through the rest of the month. One day you will be caught and you will pay. By the way, even if you aren’t caught in this life – you will still have to answer at the end of this life. Please, make better choices for yourself – both for your life now and your eternal one.

Now for my P.S.A…

We *think* that my card was compromised via a technique called “skimming”. Skimming happens when a sucky face jerky goober bottom feeder (aka thief) tampers with the payment computer at a gas pump. I don’t know all the technicalities of how it works but I do know that it makes a digital copy of your card and wirelessly transmits said copy to the thief. All they have to do after that is use that info to make a physical copy & poof! Your card has been stolen, while remaining in your wallet!!

A local news channel just reported on this practice a week or two ago. They suggested the following to safeguard your credit card info…

1) Pay inside – cash or credit

2) If you must pay at the pump, choose a pump that is in full view of the store & attendants. The chances of pumps in full view of the attendants being tampered with are much slimmer than those on the “outskirts”.

**Btw – waiters, cab drivers, and others can use skimmers to steal your card info as well. We think the skimming happened at a gas station because that’s what we’ve heard about, BUT, upon further investigation online, we learned that skimmers can be bought online and pretty much anyone you hand your card over to could skim it (if they are a sucky face jerky goober bottom feeder). It doesn’t take long at all – you probably wouldn’t even notice the time difference.**